Complaints handling is one of the main factors on which customers rate a business. More than 50 per cent of people say they complain and those complaints are often to organisations they actually like. A well-handled complaint can improve a customers perception of your business.

The Marketing Donut has some good tips on customer contact and handling complaints – http://bit.ly/NvINZ

With one consumer-facing client, we put together a weekly email of all feedback that has been received during the week through different channels. And I do mean all, including the negative, harsh comments, alongside the gushing “we love you!” ones.

Every week there is also a summary of the feedback we can action (ie. 5 ppl asked for this feature, 15 said they liked that new one so let’s keep it, etc) which helps the team understand the impact they have on users even if they’re not directly consumer-facing (a culture I’m also trying to change. Everyone should be consumer-facing in some capacity to help remind us of who we create for)

It’s important to find a balance; build a backbone and don’t be offended by every negative comment, but avoid becoming jaded and disregarding comments as users just trying to be difficult.

On one occasion, I was drawn in when the guy lost the argument and started making personal and abusive comments.

I deleted all of the comments, sat back and thought about what had just happened.

Mark is right; you can turn some negative comments into a plus, certainly if you can articulate your views, and employ some deft diplomacy to address the points of the comment.

A simple a very effective trick is to not answer straight away. Read the comment, think about it, let the sting subside and then reply.

Also, let someone else read the comment and offer their views, too.

Good advice, Mark…

Customer comments are golden, whatever the content.

For anyone else though, is should be a privilege not a right, and common courtesy is a minimum requirement.

Thank you.

Matt